Features

The 46th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

Just finishing the Ultimate Music Guide on The Kinks while listening to Gurdjieff’s harmonium improvisations from 1949. There are, though, a bunch of interesting newer things here as well. Have a listen to the new Mark Kozelek song, for a start (he played a really compelling gig in London last Friday, incidentally, which I haven’t had a chance to write about).

The John Lennon Lettters

Hunter Davies, who in 1968 wrote the first authorised biography of The Beatles and now more than 50 years on has compiled and edited The John Lennon Letters, admits in his introduction that he has for the purposes of the book ‘rather expanded the definition of the word letter’, which immediately sounds bit slippery, especially when he also describes some of the material he has unearthed as ‘notes and lists and scraps’. This sounds rather unpromising, as if Davies is preparing the reader for disappointments to come.

Interview: Crossfire Hurricane director Brett Morgen

As part of our current Rolling Stones cover story, I interviewed director Brett Morgen about his Stones' film, Crossfire Hurricane.

Argo and the return of Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck. Who'd have thought..? I remember going to a sparsely attended screening of Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith's laugh-free 2004 romcom with Affleck cast alongside his then girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, and wondering what had happened to derail such a promising career.

The Rolling Stones: “We ain’t acting”

The Stones’ new compilation, GRRR!, is reviewed in the new issue of Uncut (December 2012, Take 187), out now, so for this week’s archive feature we head back to Uncut’s April 2008 issue (Take 131). Mick Jagger is micro-managing the release of their new, Scorsese-directed concert movie, Shine A Light. Keith Richards is lounging on a Caribbean beach with his dogs. They both find time, however, to tell Uncut about pet hygiene, “fucking crap” modern music and having rebellion thrust upon them. Words: Andrew Mueller ________________________

The 45th Uncut Playlist Of 2012

Quite tempting yesterday to play nothing but “Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours”, but here’s this week’s playlist, with quite a few new clips (Broadcast, Jessica Pratt, Hiss, Ty!), links and new entries.

Allah-Las on their way, praise the Lord!

You catch us on a pretty busy day, deadlines fast approaching for our last issue of 2012. That’s the one, of course, that traditionally carries our end-of-year lists of best albums, reissues, films, DVDs and books. This means we’ve all been recently asked to nominate our personal Top 20s, from which John has been compiling the definitive countdown, the full list to be published when he’s finished his painstaking calculations in the Uncut that comes out at the end of November.

“I’m Your Man: The Biography Of Leonard Cohen”

As you might expect of a book about Leonard Cohen, Sylvie Simmons spends a fair proportion of I’m Your Man writing about love, faith, depression, finance, and the demands and consolations of poetry and women. Mostly, though, the focus of this hefty and thorough book is Leonard Cohen’s charm: about how an exceptionally gifted artist has seduced most everyone who has come into contact with him, through the course of an uncommonly eventful life.

Brian Eno, “Lux”

If you've ever suspected that Brian Eno's enduring reputation as an avant-garde genius is more mythical than actual, his discography from the past few years makes for a satisfying read.
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